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Got a blood but..
Hey. I got my blood python yesterday but cant take pics cause she wont come out of her hide,
The Zoomed heat pad I got is malfunctioning, and I DID NOT remove it once it was stuck on.
The heat pad wont even raise the ambient temp at all... And the repti carpet I have is not even getting warm.
Also.. Im concerned about my digital thermometers. They are not putting up real time temp changes. Like every few minutes or whatever they just switch.
they dont show real time temp changes at all.... Should I be concerned that these thermometers aren't working either?
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Re: Got a blood but..
Hi,
I can't speak to the blood python bits as I have never kept one. But I can maybe help with the equipment questions?
We generally do not use the adhesive on the heatmats themselves to attatch them as it makes removing them etc a right royal pain in the rear - we normally just stick them to the outside bottom of the tank with foil tape. Foil tape is also what we recommend to stick the thermostat probe to the surface of the heat mat before doing this.
Heat mats do not raise ambient air temps at all.
The temps you want for a blood should not feel hot to your hand in any case - what do the thermometers tell you the temp is?
What are you using to control the heat mat? Have you checked it is working (using a lamp for example ) and have you tried plugging the heat mat directly into the wall to see if it is working (not while the snake is in there obviously ).
Thermometers do indeed have a "refresh rate" - it's generally under 30 seconds or so though rather than a couple of minutes. But either way when making changes to thermostats etc you need to wait at least an hour most of the time ( and often far longer ) for the temps to stabilise.
This is why people like temp guns - they are prety much point and shoot for instantaneous temps. That and they are amazing fun to chase cats with.
dr del
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Re: Got a blood but..
Quote:
Originally Posted by dr del
Hi,
I can't speak to the blood python bits as I have never kept one. But I can maybe help with the equipment questions?
We generally do not use the adhesive on the heatmats themselves to attatch them as it makes removing them etc a right royal pain in the rear - we normally just stick them to the outside bottom of the tank with foil tape. Foil tape is also what we recommend to stick the thermostat probe to the surface of the heat mat before doing this.
Heat mats do not raise ambient air temps at all.
The temps you want for a blood should not feel hot to your hand in any case - what do the thermometers tell you the temp is?
What are you using to control the heat mat? Have you checked it is working (using a lamp for example ) and have you tried plugging the heat mat directly into the wall to see if it is working (not while the snake is in there obviously ).
Thermometers do indeed have a "refresh rate" - it's generally under 30 seconds or so though rather than a couple of minutes. But either way when making changes to thermostats etc you need to wait at least an hour most of the time ( and often far longer ) for the temps to stabilise.
This is why people like temp guns - they are prety much point and shoot for instantaneous temps. That and they are amazing fun to chase cats with.
dr del
Hey. Yeah about the heat mat.. lol too late :'( I put it on last night with the sticky side. O well.. Ill just work 4 hours and buy a new one in a little while. For now it is okay
The heat on the ground feels WARM to my hand, not hot though. And the thermometer with probe only got to 95 - 96 on the hot side which I think is fine (people say for bloods 90 - 95 so thats right(?) )
As for controling the heat mat, I am currently NOT using my thermostat. the reason for this is that it only lets it get to 108F and at that temp the probed thermometer wasn't even reading above 87 on the hot side. So I took it off and now the heat mat is at...
113F and its reading 90 - 96 and feels warm to touch.
The cool side air temp is 79 - 85 (at this moment 83) and the ground is 81 - 85
Hot side air temp is 85 right now but has hit 88 before. Ground temp is 90 - 96 in certain spots and 80 - 86 in others.
Humidity is 65 - 70 all through the enclosure.
Also note that I have had the lid and moist towel off the tank for 30 mins now so ambiet air is a little lower.
about checking the heat pad to see if its working, it is but just not like I thought it would. It isnt really putting the entire hot side above 90... i thought it would put the entire hot side above 90 but i guess i was wrong
Also!!!! lol where can I get a temp gun?
I have a Walmart, Pet Paradise, Northern Reptile, Canadian Tire, Home depot Costco ect around me, any of these places sell them?
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Re: Got a blood but..
Why didnt you have an environment setup and running for a week or so BEFORE you brought the animal home?
Just give the animal an ambient air temp of 80-82 throughout the enclosure and he'll be fine, NO HOT SPOT.
Who recommended 90-95 for a Blood? Thats TERRIBLY high
Constant temperatures of over 85 degrees where the animal is unable to thermoregulate is likely to lead to feeding refusals and regurgitations. As well as possible complications with urates and blockage.
Also, dont expext him to come out of his hide, like hardly ever. These snakes are very SEDENTARY and will hardly make themselves seen, when they do, its usually late at night when they come out to take a drink.
Im sorry to sound rude, theres just so many things about this that are so wrong.
DO what it takes to fix the environment issues, or I'm afraid your experience with this species could end is heartache.
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Re: Got a blood but..
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2kdime
Why didnt you have an environment setup and running for a week or so BEFORE you brought the animal home?
Just give the animal an ambient air temp of 80-82 throughout the enclosure and he'll be fine, NO HOT SPOT.
Who recommended 90-95 for a Blood? Thats TERRIBLY high
Constant temperatures of over 85 degrees where the animal is unable to thermoregulate is likely to lead to feeding refusals and regurgitations. As well as possible complications with urates and blockage.
Also, dont expext him to come out of his hide, like hardly ever. These snakes are very SEDENTARY and will hardly make themselves seen, when they do, its usually late at night when they come out to take a drink.
Im sorry to sound rude, theres just so many things about this that are so wrong.
DO what it takes to fix the environment issues, or I'm afraid your experience with this species could end is heartache.
Dude You are misunderstanding and its my fault
I should have told you guys already that I did have the enviroment up and running BEFORE I got the snake
HOWEVER
the guy i bought it from is a reptuable breeder and he told me to use the heat mat to get a hot spot of 90 - 95. So I followed his advice and added it onto the enviroment I had set up
Now ifd thats the wrong thing to do I will follow your advice and turn off the heat pad (which I have)
Now, cool side is at 82 - 84, so you are saying that a ground temp of 82 - 84 will work for the entire tank? am I understanding thisa correctly
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Re: Got a blood but..
Hi,
We have a sticky on removing heat pads so you may be alright.
I was about to link to one of his posts to give you the temp advice but he beat me to it. :D
Use the thermostat - if it doesn't get warm enough change the bedding not the fact it is being controlled.
I just temp gunned my hand at 93f so I would never rely on your hand as a guide for reptile temps. It's based too much on temp difference not actual base temps.
Canadian tire might have temp guns - they are used by mechanics for monitoring engine temps etc but ordering online is your best bet.
dr del
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Re: Got a blood but..
Quote:
Originally Posted by dr del
Hi,
We have a sticky on removing heat pads so you may be alright.
I was about to link to one of his posts to give you the temp advice but he beat me to it. :D
Use the thermostat - if it doesn't get warm enough change the bedding not the fact it is being controlled.
I just temp gunned my hand at 93f so I would never rely on your hand as a guide for reptile temps. It's based too much on temp difference not actual base temps.
Canadian tire might have temp guns - they are used by mechanics for monitoring engine temps etc but ordering online is your best bet.
dr del
Alright thanks, Ill try to remove it following the sticky and at the same time ill set my temps straight
Later on ill see if I can get ahold of a temp gun
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Re: Got a blood but..
I must have read it wrong, I apologize.
I just remember you asking about these snakes, and I just wanted to reiterate that they dont really have a "learning curve" like other snakes do. They need a pretty consistent environment to stay healthy.
82-84 is even a bit high in my opinion.
80-82 is what I would shoot for, all around the tank, yes. That means that the bottom of the tank should be 80-82, as well as the air inside the enclosure.
I will also say that the sooner you can get him out of a tank, the happier he and you will be. Tubs and reptile specific caging are much easier to maintain and give the snakes a better sense of security.
Whats the name of the breeder you got him from? Granted hes in Canada, I dont know ANYBODY who believes temps that high are good for Bloods. The highest I've heard of is MAYBE 90 for a gravid females basking spot until she lays, then the hot spot is dropped and its back to normal temps.
Even 78-80 all around the enclosure is fine.
Rather them be a bit cool and dry than too hot and too humid.
Also, did I see you were using Repti-Carpet? DITCH it, use newspaper. That stuff is a breeding ground for bacteria. Newspaper also simulates these snakes natural environment in the wild of hiding under leaf litter. Its cheap, and its clean as well.
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Re: Got a blood but..
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2kdime
I must have read it wrong, I apologize.
I just remember you asking about these snakes, and I just wanted to reiterate that they dont really have a "learning curve" like other snakes do. They need a pretty consistent environment to stay healthy.
82-84 is even a bit high in my opinion.
80-82 is what I would shoot for, all around the tank, yes. That means that the bottom of the tank should be 80-82, as well as the air inside the enclosure.
I will also say that the sooner you can get him out of a tank, the happier he and you will be. Tubs and reptile specific caging are much easier to maintain and give the snakes a better sense of security.
Whats the name of the breeder you got him from? Granted hes in Canada, I dont know ANYBODY who believes temps that high are good for Bloods. The highest I've heard of is MAYBE 90 for a gravid females basking spot until she lays, then the hot spot is dropped and its back to normal temps.
Even 78-80 all around the enclosure is fine.
Rather them be a bit cool and dry than too hot and too humid.
Apology accepted, it was my fault I should have made the situation clearer. :hug:
Anyway onto temps :)
I must have misunderstood him. He may have said to have it 90 - 95 in the WINTER to keep the ground temp stable at 80 - 84 or 82. Maybe I just misheard him
Anyway im gonna get right onto getting air temps and ground temps to 80 - 82!!! Ill be right back!
EDIT: Switching to newspaper
Gonna get bitten aswell, this little snake is a nasty one, she strikes at everything! :D
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Re: Got a blood but..
Okay, right now I am juddling between 78 - 82 air temps (air temps right on the ground AND like 3 inches off the ground)
The ground temp ITSELF I havent tested yet because I am doing to much in the enclosure and its going to stress her out even more so im gonna leave her for awhile
also id rather not give out the breeders name, he has been EXTREMELY generous to me several times so id rather not give it out. He is a great person and knows his stuff
I just misunderstood what he was saying, he meant 90 - 95 in the winter so it averages out to like 80 because of the cold
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Re: Got a blood but..
Need to find out what that ground temp is too, they will absorb heat through their bellies as well.
It too needs to be that 78-82 degrees
Again, you may have to set your thermostat at 90-95, but no where in your enclosure should ever get that high for these snakes.
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Re: Got a blood but..
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2kdime
Need to find out what that ground temp is too, they will absorb heat through their bellies as well.
It too needs to be that 78-82 degrees
Again, you may have to set your thermostat at 90-95, but no where in your enclosure should ever get that high for these snakes.
Alright, that sounds good! Ill follow your advice and get the ground and air to 78 - 82. Sadly a temp gun near me is 100$!!!!!
So im gonna have to wait to get money to order one frm the US or whatever. so for now the thermometer with probe will have to do.
BRB gonna go check ground temps and post them here
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Re: Got a blood but..
Quick question, is it okay to tape the thermopstat probe onto the heat mad using duct tape if I dont have any other tape?
ALso forgot to mention the heat pad will only be running at MAX 87F and lowest 85F
so it shouldnt burn duct tape would it?
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Re: Got a blood but..
I have had blood pythons for almost 2 yrs now, I am by no means an expert but I did attend the symposium in daytona on bloods a few years ago :D.
Anyway, we keep ours in a rack that has no heat. They are in the bottom 2 shelves and they have a big HEAVY water bowl filled with water at all times, sani chips as substrate and their temps are ambient room temps that range between 82-85 in the summer and down to 76 in the winter. We have never had any problems with our bloods.
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Re: Got a blood but..
Quote:
Originally Posted by kellysballs
I have had blood pythons for almost 2 yrs now, I am by no means an expert but I did attend the symposium in daytona on bloods a few years ago :D.
Anyway, we keep ours in a rack that has no heat. They are in the bottom 2 shelves and they have a big HEAVY water bowl filled with water at all times, sani chips as substrate and their temps are ambient room temps that range between 82-85 in the summer and down to 76 in the winter. We have never had any problems with our bloods.
O :O
Thats good to hear! I am one of those people that are like "No heat pad?!?!! WHAT!"
lol, but ill get along without it. Im currently working to get temps to what you and 2kdime have said. Hot side right now is 84, trying to get it down to 82, the ground temp I dont know cuz I gotta find the probe lol
Cool side is 84 aswell, aiming for 82 aswell.
Im also aiming for 79 - 82 on ground all over the enclosure
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Re: Got a blood but..
Then you'll be right as rain:salute:
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeV
O :O
Thats good to hear! I am one of those people that are like "No heat pad?!?!! WHAT!"
lol, but ill get along without it. Im currently working to get temps to what you and 2kdime have said. Hot side right now is 84, trying to get it down to 82, the ground temp I dont know cuz I gotta find the probe lol
Cool side is 84 aswell, aiming for 82 aswell.
Im also aiming for 79 - 82 on ground all over the enclosure
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Re: Got a blood but..
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2kdime
Then you'll be right as rain:salute:
:banana: :banana: :banana:
Now I gotta work out when I can get some newspaper LOL
put out the recycling today and its gone now.. I have ZERO pages of newspaper in my house. its so lame. I am stuck with this carpet crap for now.
hopefully I get some in soon
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Re: Got a blood but..
Okay so I got creative with my thermostat and made it into a thermometer with a probe :)
I put the probe in the tank at the (hot end: which means end that I thought was hot) and let it stablize. It stayed at 81.3 for awhile.
Then I put it on the "cold side" and it went to 81.1, but did hit 82 at one time
"hot side" maxed at 83 aswell. but stablized at 81.3
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Re: Got a blood but..
Temp gun.... $35.95CDN
http://www.exclusivedragons.com/ES_pe1_gun.html
and that's ordering from a Canadian supplier in Ontario :gj:
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Re: Got a blood but..
Quote:
Originally Posted by Buttons
Thanks! :banana:
Also, some news on the temps. Last night it dropped to 73 on the cold side and 75 on the hot side
So im going to go ahead and get a infared heat bulb to keep on 24/7 because the room temp alone isn't keeping it highest than 75
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Re: Got a blood but..
Good news. Temps raising again. Left side of the tank is at 78 right side is at 75.
I was getting worried. Still gonna pick up the heat bulb tho lol
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Re: Got a blood but..
Well! by getting the heat lamp I must be doing something right because for the past 2 - 3 days that ive had her she never came out unless it was 11 at night or beyond!
Now she is poking her cute little head out of her hide!!!
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